Oct
24
We slept in a little later on Monday, ate light in the room and rode a bus over to Animal Kingdom Park. Went straight to the Kilimanjaro Safari and got a fast pass and then went to eat (at least I think that’s the order we did it!) Ate lunch at Tusker House Restaurant….good roasted vegetable sandwiches and rotisserie chicken meal, plus desserts! Then it was our turn to do the Safari, got in the fast pass line and went past everyone waiting in line to get on! Kinda fun to pass everyone up! The ride was a little cheesy and maybe typical Disney, but the animals were magnificent and it was really fun and we were glad to be there because this part of the park was new to all of us.
Click -more- to see the pictures and read the rest of part 2.
Trent and Shanna before boarding the safari ride
Did the Pangani Exploration trail after that and saw more animals, including a chimp or gorilla that was showing off some….it was a nice stroll through a forest setting, there was even an underwater hippo viewing area. We walked over to Camp Minnie-Mickey to see the Lion King show next….it was indoors and felt good to get out of the sun for a while. Good show with lots of lights and dancing and singing. When they first started the show and a few performers were interacting with audience members to get them to make animal sounds, one girl in our section asked a guy his name and Grayson was sitting by me and said outloud but not very loud, “I Gray Gray”…it was so cute and I wished we had been closer so they could have heard him, he wanted them to know his name!
Next we stopped in a character greeting area and saw Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet…..Grayson loved it and we got some good shots, but Ava Clair was a little hesitant with them especially the taller ones.
Grayson with Winnie, so cute!
Just as we finished up there it started to rain; it didn’t miss a day while there! Then it was off to Dinoland, wanted to do the Dinosaur ride there but for some reason we never got around to it! We did ride TriceraTop Spin, a mild up and down ride but the kids loved it; Shanna and Trent rode a roller coaster ride while we watched the kids and Grayson wanted to be with them so I took him back on the dino ride a time or two and he kept wanting to ride it over and over!
Grayson and Trent on the small dino ride!
We caught the last show of It’s Tough to be a Bug, 3-D animated show, on our way out of the park.
Leaving Animal Kingdom
The park closed at 5 and we got on a bus to go to our dinner reservation back in Magic Kingdom. It was a character dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern and the food was served family style…..salad, rolls, flank steak, ham, turkey, dressing, potatoes, green beans, and……dessert! The characters came around to your table during dinner and for pictures. Pluto, Chip, Dale, Goofy, Minnie and most dressed in colonial attire. Lots of fun!
Saw a little bit of the parade as we were leaving and we got separated from Don trying to get around Main Street, thank goodness for cell phones!
Eating supper at Liberty Tree Tavern, a character dining meal…..Grayson loved them all and Ava Clair sometimes tolerated them! She was a little unsure of Pluto here!
And she still wasn’t too sure of Chip when he came around:
But he did play peek a boo with them and she was ok with that!
This one is pretty good with Dale, I learned to tell them apart because he has the red nose!
On Tuesday we headed out in the morning to MGM Studios for the day. Tried to get some pictures of Don with the Sorcerer’s hat on his head! They love to get pictures like this and we thought Elizabeth would get a kick out of it!
Went over to check the Star Wars Star Tours ride and found that Grayson was tall enough to ride we got a fast pass for it and then on to eat an early lunch. Had pizzas at the Toy Story Pizza place and then took in the Muppet 3-D show. Also did the Great Movie Ride. We checked other show times and found that the Power Rangers would be making an appearance out on the street so we went to get in line for that and happened to be close to the front with not too much time to wait. Of course while we were waiting, our daily rain shower came around and we didn’t want to dash for cover and lose our place in line so the rain gear came out again.
Got a good shot of Grayson with one of them!
We rode the Star Wars ride, used our fast passes to pass everyone in line and did the kid swap thing on it, and they let Grayson ride it twice while some of us took turns sitting out with Ava Clair….it is a fun ride and Grayson loved it! Also went over to ride the Tower of Terror and the adults took turns sitting with the kids while we each rode it…..it is a good ride too and once they start sending you up and back down, it feels like your bottom never stays on the seat! Good thing for seat belts on that one! Checked out the roller coaster but lines were too long and couldn’t get a fast pass for the times we needed. Caught part of the parade on our way to eat dinner, had a fairly early reservation this day, at 4:40 p.m. Shanna made this one for the Sci Fi diner in MGM……this one is set up up to look like a drive in theater with cars all facing a huge screen that shows old movies. The cars are cut out on the side and have 3 seats forward facing seats in them, just like sitting in a car! It was a fun place to eat and I think very popular.
We wanted to catch the last show of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and just got in as they were about to close the doors. Shanna really wanted to see this one, you have a chance to win prizes in it…..but the kids got fussy and she left part of the way through it to sit out with them. She would have had the best chance out of any of us to have a shot at it!
The park was closing as we finished up here so we headed back to our hotel and Don and I watched The Amazing Race in our room after we got in that night!
More to come later!
October 24th, 2005 at 6:31 pm
Wow, what a BUSY day, sounds like fun, and all very well orchestrated……….good photos of everyone too .
SKP
October 24th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
Great pictures and good travelogue too! 🙂 Love all the details. Makes me wish we could go again… they had just opened Animal Kingdom when we went, and we went on Safari and ate at Tuskers, but a lot of it was still under construction. They hadn’t opened Test Track either, when we went. So much fun stuff to see and do down there. And with the kids, the character stuff must have been a blast! Great pictures, love all of them! Do we get another installment?!!
October 24th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
Yep, another installment coming soon, maybe the last one! And some more pictures too.